Potential of Titanium Pins Coated with Fibroblast Growth Factor-2–Calcium Phosphate Composite Layers to Reduce the Risk of Impaired Bone–Pin Interface Strength in the External Fixation of Distal Radius Fractures

Abstract

Background: The risk of impaired bone–pin interface strength in titanium (Ti) pins coated with fibroblast growth factor (FGF)–calcium phosphate (CP) composite layers is yet to be evaluated in a clinical study. This retrospective study used Weibull plot analysis to evaluate bone–pin interface strength in Ti pins coated with FGF-CP layers for external distal radius fracture fixation. Methods: The distal radial fractures were treated with external fixation. The FGF-CP group comprised five patients (all women, aged 70.4 ± 5.9 (range: 62–77) years), and the uncoated pin group comprised ten patients (eight women and two men, aged 64.4 ± 11.7 (range: 43–83) years). The pins were removed after six weeks. The insertion and extraction peak torques were measured. The extraction peak torque was evaluated using Weibull plot analysis. Results: We compared the extraction torque of the two groups at or below 506 Nmm for a fair comparison using Weibull plot analysis. The Weibull plots were linear for both the FGF-CP and uncoated pin groups. The slope of the regression line was significantly higher in the FGF-CP group (1.7343) than in the uncoated pin group (1.5670) (p = 0.011). The intercept of the regression line was significantly lower in the FGF-CP group (−9.847) than in the uncoated pin group (−8.708) (p = 0.002). Thus, the two regression lines significantly differed. Conclusions: Ti pins coated with FGF-CP layers exhibit the potential to reduce the risk of impaired bone–pin interface strength in the external fixation of distal radius fractures.